Southern's Villages

The system of village started in the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern dynasties was a great progress of local primary-level organizations. This paper reviews the five authorized histories in the Southern dynasty related to the system of village, with emphasis on the relations between the large clans, the aboriginal group and the Southern villages. On one side, the large clans, due to their powerful political, economic and cultural strength, were highly influential in the local areas. In order to survive in wars and riots, villagers often attached themselves to the large clans and thus became the obscure and dependent population. So during the disturbed periods, large clans would attract a larger number of such forces so as to preserve and reinforce their strength. On the other side, after the Hou Jing Rebellion, the aboriginal group which was secluded from the political center dominated in their respective local areas. They arranged stable production activities for the villagers and thus won them over. The aboriginal group was based on tribes as the inhabitation units. Each tribe had a leader. This kind of structural peculiarity can also be discerned in the system of village.